Lapierre, Price lift Canadiens in shootout

TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- The Montreal Canadiens have returned
to the winning ways at the expense of South Florida teams.

Maxim Lapierre netted the decisive goal in the second round of a
shootout to help the Canadiens edge the lowly Tampa Bay
Lightning, 2-1, on Tuesday.

Alexei Kovalev also tallied in the shootout and Carey Price made
21 saves before denying Vaclav Prospal in the second round and
Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier in final set of the bonus
format to secure the win.

"I thought Lapierre played a really strong game, gave us chances
to get back into the game, and has been playing the last two or
three weeks," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "It was just
a good time to put him in. One thing we talked about in the
summer because of the record we had last year, was really trying
to play a little bit better defensively.

"So we've worked on this since the start of the year. I think
it pays off right now. We're playing well defensively. Both
our goaltenders are strong. Sometimes when you do that, you
find ways to win games. That's exactly what we're doing right
now."

With the victory, the Canadiens have now won five of their last
six games. Before that stretch, they dropped four of five and
fell in the standings of the tight Eastern Conference.

Montreal completed a two-game sweep of South Florida teams one
night after defeating the Florida Panthers, 5-2.

"We have a pretty big following no matter where we go," Price
said. "It seems like whenever we're in an opposition rink,
there's always at least five (thousand) strong that are rooting
for us. It definitely gives you a boost when you're in an
opposition rink."

Guillaume Latendresse scored his fifth tally of the season 46
seconds into the third period and Lapierre and Tom Kostopoulos
notched assists for the Canadiens.

Prospal registered a power-play goal in regulation for the
Lightning, who saw their three-game win streak come to an end.
Before the streak, they had dropped 17 of 19 contests.

In the first round of the shootout, Jussi Jokinen converted a
wrister to give Tampa Bay an early edge and Kovalev followed by
beating Mike Smith with a backhander.

"The first guy made quite the move. He almost stopped (in front
of the net)," Price said. "I think a lot of players are trying
to do that now, just to try and throw off the timing of the
goalies. It came down to the shootout. That could have went
either way."

Prospal attempted a hard shot in the next round, but Price
blocked it to set up Lapierre's eventual game-winning wrister.

"A couple of their shooters had some great shots," Tampa Bay
interim coach Rick Tocchet said. "The second (Lapierre), it was
a bullet. That was a (heck) of a goal. When Jokinen scored, we
got the advantage, then (Smith) almost got that one with Kovalev
and then we couldn't get the other two goals there to get back
in it."

Price then stymied Lecavalier as Montreal improved to 5-2-0 in
its last seven games at Tampa Bay.

Montreal forged a 1-1 tie as Smith blocked Lapierre's initial
attempt from the slot, but the rebound kicked toward the left of
net where Latendresse backhanded it into net.

The Lightning got on the board when Ryan Malone fired a wrist
shot from inside the blue line and the puck deflected off
Kovalev's skate onto the stick of Prospal, who was credited with
the opening goal with 6:42 left in the first.

"We grabbed a point," Tocchet said. "Actually it was a great
hockey game. We kind of gave them that goal there to get back
in, but the shootouts are tough. We're getting some points, but
we need the two points bad, really bad."

Smith finished with 29 saves in regulation, but the Lightning
lost for the 16th time in 21 games decided by one goal.

"They're a good defensive team," Tocchet said. "Price played
well. We had some chances, we had some guys that had some
chances but that's a high scoring team, too."